Slimming World……

I would say today but unless you are reading this literally today it’s gonna make no sense,

But Slimming world have just changed their protocol shall we say,

They have changed some of their foods,

Now if you aren’t aware of Slimming world – um, where have you been,

But they are a weight loss club that you attend every week to get weighed in and they have a somewhat weird way to teach you about food,

They have foods that are ‘free’

and they have foods that are ‘syns’

Depending on your weight loss will determine how many syns you are allowed over the course of the day,

and you basically spend them how ever you like,

So for example a free food would be pasta, potatoes and fruit,

Ye fucking pasta is free,

we will get on to that later,

and then syn foods are everything else,

So for example a jaffa cake has 2.5 syns and a glass of wine has got 6 syns,

and today that includes muller lites and many others,

Just wanna clear up the fact that muller lites yesterday were 89 calories and today they are still 89 calories so that hasn’t changed.

So where to begin,

I think SW is great if you are extremely over weight,

If you have a lot of weight to lose and have built up some pretty shit habits with your eating over the last few years then SW is great,

It gives you something to focus on,

It gives you a little bit of accountability,

It gives you some support and social interaction,

It also gives you some structure,

So of course the weight will start to come off,

and that will do absolute wonders to your confidence and motivation to continue,

You could lose stones in fact and that has the ability to absolutely change your life,

But then what happens……

One day you will go and the scales won’t change,

Guaranteed,

You could put it down to a bad week,

Maybe you could put it down to the takeaway you had on Saturday,

Or maybe it was because you missed that workout on Wednesday,

Then the motivation can very quickly go wayward and you my friend could be back at square 1 very fucking quickly,

Did you know only 5% of slimming world attendees have kept off the weight they lost 12-24 months down the line,

That is a fucked up statistic right there,

Like 5%,

What the fuck happened to the other 95% ?

I can take a guess…

No Education

There is no teaching about the one little bit of info you need when it comes to fat loss,

Calories,

You have syns, free and healthy extras food,

No mention of the energy in foods that makes the whole fucking difference,

and the fact that pasta is ‘free’ is kinda crazy,

A 100g portion of pasta is 148 calories but is ‘free’

but 3 jaffa cakes is 138 calories yet would be 7.5 syns.

That makes zero sense,

There is no education as to what people do for a lifestyle change,

It’s another diet that people stick to and fall off off very quickly before they join up again in January,

PLUS They are doing your weight not fat,

Weight is made up of water, muscle and fat so when the scales change, is it fat you have put on or weight – there is no education for that,

It’s just leaves the teacher (or whatever that are called) looking at you with a disappointed look a condescendingly saying “what could you do better for next week”

No exercise

Apparently, I’m not a fan of that word as I like to give you guys actual facts,

But,

Apparently SW say no to exercise,

God knows why,

Could it be because you will drink more water after a workout so will be ‘heavier’ which means your SW plan technically isn’t working ?

Could it be because all you eat is pasta ?

Could it be because they don’t want you to tone up (build muscle) which could make you heavier ?

Who knows – but that is horse shit,

There is so many mental benefits for exercise that from a psychological point of you help a crazy amount,

You get weighed in

The scales – those fucked up pieces of glass that you continue to stand on,

I have had clients before that have gone to extreme lengths just for those scales to change,

Like really extreme,

No drinking, No eating and there was a laxative involved at one time,

That is really sad,

1 – Your weight will fluctuate throughout the day which will have nothing to do with actually how you ate,

2 – Your mental health can take a nose dive, you feel confident because you have lost weight, you feel fucking fire because you are getting compliments and you feel high as a kite because you are noticing results,

But one Wednesday evening you go and the scales don’t change – what does that do to your mood ?

3 – Eating a lot of carbs leads to water retention which leads to heaviness – you think it’s fat but it’s just weight and will balance itself out,

Syn foods

Calling certain foods syns is all sorts of wrong,

You are telling people what they are eating is a syn,

A syn means law breaking,

So you are a criminal for eating some jaffa cakes,

Are you for real….?

Taking a side from the fact your being a criminal, it gives you such a bad relationship with food,

You are seeing foods as good and bad,

What are we 6 years old ?

We can have foods that are more nutrient dense….

We can have foods that are lower in calories….

We can have foods that taste fucking epic but are usually higher in calories…..

None of them are good or bad,

So we really need to stop calling foods syns – you are not a criminal for having a glass of wine,

It brings a whole load of guilt when you call it that as well,

You’re sat crying into your maltesers because you are breaking your SW rules and regulations

Ye alright mate……

Just like any diet out there, SW can ‘work’ for you,

But when we are looking to make a massive change we are also wanting to make a sustainable change WITH the education to make it a lifestyle choice,

Which will give you results constantly without feeling like you are really trying,

This, for me and for my clients is the BEST way to see results…..

Like any diet, take everything into consideration but please do not use the scales – they will fuck you off big time.